KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT DAVID CRONENBERG

I’m not saying I’m the only one who noticed the organ transplant subliminals in Shivers but when you’ve had a kidney transplant – like me – this movie takes on a whole ‘nother level of importance & relatability.

After my kidney transplant, that particular scene stood out to me and gave the movie a completely different meaning in my eyes. I feel like when most people analyze & break down Shivers, the order of talking points goes; sexually transmitted diseases first, Cronenberg finally finding his signature style second, and maybe organ transplantation last. Today we’re going to quickly look at Shivers through the eyes of an organ transplant recipient. Kidney transplant to be specific.

So…for those of you that don’t know, the kidneys you are born with are located in the side/lower back region. When you receive a kidney transplant, your dead/diseased/failed kidneys still stay in your body, and the transplanted kidney is put in to side stomach area. The reason your failed kidneys have to remain intact is because your body is used to the organs you’re born with. No matter what. Even when your kidneys fail, your body has been conditioned to filter everything through your original/birth kidneys. This is one of the many reasons you take anti-rejection meds. They essentially trick your body in to filtering everything in to your new/foreign/transplanted kidney. A kidney transplant is essentially an on-going fake-out on your body.

And because this is all about David Cronenberg (the king of body horror), I thought I’d go full body horror and show my actual kidney transplant scar. I mean, what’s more horrific & Cronenberg-esque than a giant organ transplant scar on my big belly?

Now…the location of the kidney transplant is very key to this presentation because all throughout Shivers we see a lot of the characters in the movie focusing & touching on the area of the body where a transplanted kidney would go. I highly doubt someone who didn’t have a kidney transplant would even notice this.

And of course one of the most famous scenes from the film kind of transitions in to the 2nd part of this piece…

The writer of Alien has definitely seen these movies, Dan O’Bannon. The idea of parasites that burst out of your body and uses a fluid and leaps on your face, that’s all in Shivers. - David Cronenberg

There’s no debate that David Cronenberg is one of the most influential (and influenced) modern filmmakers of all time. But it’s one thing to say it, and another thing to show it. So we’re going to take a look at some of my favorite visual comparisons (that I came up with) between David Cronenberg and the filmmakers that came before him and after him…

Enjoy…

Shivers / Alien

Stereo / Under The Skin

Videodrome / Def By Temptation

The Brood / Total Recall

Videodrome / The Hidden

Shivers / Twin Peaks Season 3

Shivers / A Nightmare On Elm Street / Teeth

The Fly / Clean, Shaven

Scanners / Blade Runner / Mandy

Crash /
Metropolis

Shivers / Crash

Shivers /
Crash

Les Vampires /
The Brood

Repulsion /
Shivers

The Night Of The Living Dead / Shivers

Wild Strawberries / Crash

Ghost / Naked Lunch

Un Chien Andalou / Rabid

Shivers / Salo

Le Lions De Moguls / A Clockwork Orange / Crash

Lost Highway /
Crash

Six Men Getting Sick /
Scanners

THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS

The Five Obstructions is a film that hammers home what I try to do here at PINNLAND EMPIRE. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - cinematic influences & visual similarities aren’t the most important factor when it comes to film analysis but it is important nonetheless. Simply for the fact that it’s nice to know where the roots of a more recent film came from. So when I was asked to join in on a loose lecture/discussion on the subject I jumped on it without hesitation (this is a written version of my “presentation” on the importance of The Five Obstructions for Video Revival in Brooklyn).

In The Five Obstructions Lars Von Trier sets out to recreate one of his all-time favorite films (The Perfect Human) with the help of Perfect Human director; Jørgen Leth (there’s a deeper reason as to why Von Trier sought help from Leth that we’ll get in to later). Through the course of the film Von Trier & Leth make five experimental variations of Leth’s original short.
For those unfamiliar - like I was prior to 2003 - The Perfect Human is a Danish experimental short from 1963 that left a lasting impression on a young Lars Von Trier decades before The Five Obstructions came to be.

In Von Trier’s television series The Kingdom (R) we see LvT dressed just like the protagonist from The Perfect Human (L) using sign language to address the audience...

In Europa Von Trier tips his hat to the shaving sequence in The Perfect Human (there are a million shaving scenes in a million movies but given Von Trier’s obvious love of The Perfect Human I like to think his homage in Europa was specific).

The Perfect Human / Europa

The Perfect Human’s (possible) influence & visual similarities branch out beyond the cinema of Lars Von Trier. The French New Wave was well under way by the time of The Perfect Human’s release but Leth’s visuals share some striking similarities to a few key French New Wave Films like A Married Woman...

The Perfect Human / A Married Woman

And I know Repulsion isn’t a full-on French New Wave film, but from the Jazz score, the jazzy black & white cinematography & the presence of Catherine Deneuve, it’s a distant relative.
In Repulsion we get a close up of a nail cutting scene similar to one in Leth’s The Perfect Human...

The Perfect Human / Repulsion

and this scene in Repulsion would go on to echo in the work of Lodge Kerrigan...

Repulsion / Clean, Shaven / Claire Dolan

There are also some visual similarities with early George Lucas...

The Perfect Human / THX 1138

I think I’ve always had an appreciation for Von Trier more than his peers because while he can be incredibly arrogant at times, he’s never hesitated for a second to list off his cinematic influence. From Tarkovsky & Dreyer to Leth & Scorsese, LvT has never been above paying respect to those that came before him. He actually wanted to make a sequel to The Five Obstructions with Martin Scorsese but it fell through...

The Five Obstructions goes deeper than just recreating shots & comparing new & old images. This loose documentary is also a light study in depression. Prior to The Five Obstructions Jørgen Leth was suffering from severe depression. Lars Von Trier discovered this and came to the aid of his fellow Dane by getting him to direct. Lars Von Trier has suffered from depression himself so I’m sure he understood the struggle. This is just one example of many where we see an active filmmaker reach out to help an inactive filmmaker through directing. The Five Obstructions is kind of a sequel to Lightning Over Water where we see Wim Wenders working with his idol Nicholas Ray. In 1980 John Cassavetes got Peter Bogdanovich out of his severe depression by having him direct a few of scenes in Gloria.

Lightning Over Water / The Five Obstructions

The Five Obstructions was not only an homage/experimental collaboration between two filmmakers but also a form of therapy (by the end of the film Jorgen Leth seems like a happier person).

THE CINEMA OF MARINA DE VAN TOLD THROUGH IMAGES & STILLS

Marina De Van is a director/writer/actress that walks along her own unique path. With five feature films and a handful of shorts under her belt she has not only made a dent in the art house world (The New French Extremity scene to be specific), but has also carved out her own little niche and breathed life back in to genres like Body Horror and the Psychological Thriller (I consider her feature debut In My Skin to be one of the best films of the last decade).
Marina De Van is an important female voice in modern film. While filmmakers like Catherine Breillat tackle the subject of sex & sexuality among women (especially young women) and Claire Denis focuses on the (sometimes) taboos of interracial relationships often told from the perspectives of (white) women, De Van focuses on sanity, repressed memories and the female psyche.
Her films are defiant & challenging. Why is it that when a male director gives us an unflinching (yet tasteful) look at sexuality, blood & violence it’s ok, but when a woman does it, it causes a mini-uproar? Films like History Of Violence & Eastern Promises (Cronenberg) & Bug (William Friedken) are met with generally open arms while In My Skin (De Van), Trouble Every Day (Denis) & Anatomy Of Hell (Breillat) were all met with initial hostility & pushback. These are the kinds of questions that come about when discussing her work.

Marina De Van isn't exactly a household name but just about all of her movies are available on every major streaming platform. Hopefully this piece will inspire some of you to seek out her work and get familiar.

WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN / FEMALE LEADS

Mental illness affects us all. It doesn't specify according to gender. However Marina De Van focuses on mental illness among women. Her films are very "female-centric" and there's a lot of estrogen in the cinematic universe of Marina De Van. Who knows hormones & the mindstate of women more than a woman herself? That's not to say a man couldn't direct a film about mental illness as it pertains to women but wouldn't you want to see a woman do that first?

Now that we're in an era where folks are pushing for female filmmakers now more than ever, perhaps Marina De Van should be considered a varsity-letterman in that movement...

In My Skin

Don't Look Back

Dark Touch

Le Petit Poucet

8 Women (directed by Francois Ozon but written by Marina De Van)

See The Sea (directed by Francois Ozon but written by Marina De Van)

La Promenade

Alias

Bien Sous Tous Rapports

L'Epicerie

with that being said...

TRUAMATIC EVENTS & TRIGGERS

In her feature film debut (In My Skin) we see our main (female) character develop a newfound fascination with cutting & self-mutilation after she takes a nasty fall at a party (the fall just triggers something dark that was already inside her).

In Don't Look Back we see a woman struggle with a split personality disorder brought on by something triggered from her past. Dark Touch is an allegory for child abuse (the child in this case happens to be a little girl) while Alias deals with a woman struggling from an unknown tragic event that stopped her modeling career...

In My Skin

Don't Look Back

Dark Touch

Alias

LONELINESS & DEPRESSION (mostly among women but with a few exceptions)

The traumatic events from the above category often leads to depression and characters isolating themselves from others...

Alias

Psy-Show

In My Skin

Dark Touch

THE FEMALE FORM

Marina De Van doesn't shy away from showing the beauty that is the female body. While a lot of female filmmakers avoid gratuitous nudity & "eye candy", De Van embraces the female form (In My Skin almost doubles as an excuse for her to show off her own beautiful body). 

And because we're seeing the female body through the lens of a woman, it ends up being tasteful...

In My Skin

Don't Look Back

Don't Look Back

La Promenade

La Promenade

Alias

Alias

See The Sea

BLOOD & BODY HORROR

I'm sure De Van would dismiss the idea of being labeled as a "horror director", but a large majority of her films feature blood, murder, mutilation and the occasional supernatural character.

She's also one of the leading voices in the current body horror genre although you'd never know that because most cinephiles with an opinion on said genre cant get past David Cronenberg. But almost everyone one of Marina De Van's films features gruesome body transformations (Don't Look Back), body dismorphia (Le Petit Poucet) or severe self-mutilation (In My Skin).

Don't Look Back

In My Skin

In My Skin

In My Skin

Dark Touch

Le Petit Poucet

Le Petit Poucet

TRANSFORMATION/METAMORPHOSIS/SURROGATES…

Characters in movies starting out one way then changing in to someone/something new is hardly unique. But in the word of Marina De Van it’s incredibly drastic and sometimes jarring. In See The Sea we watch a character take the place of someone after violently murdering them. At the start of In My Skin we watch a relatively happy person slowly change to a darker version of herself. In the appropriately titled Alias we see our main character ditch a party by making her housekeeper take her place (no one notices). And Don’t Look Back is about a character with multiple personalities disorder.

See The Sea (a new mother takes the place of the original mother at the end of the movie)

two different versions of our protagonist in In My SKin

transformation in Don't Look Back

switching identities in Alias

DARK LIGHTING

I'm not sure if this is intentional or not but what makes De Van's films work so well is that a large majority of her work is lit very darkly which adds to the mysterious ambiance. Marina De Van works almost exclusively within the horror & psychological thriller genres so dark color palettes & nighttime settings only enhance the scary/uncertain mood...

Don't Look Back

In My Skin

In My Skin

Dark Touch

La Promenade

Alias

VISUAL SIMILARITIES & (POSSIBLE) INFLUENCES ON MARINA DE VAN

Crash (David Cronenberg)/ In My Skin

Un Chien Andalou (Luis Bunuel) / In My Skin

Bladerunner (Ridley Scott) / In My Skin

Repulsion (Roman Polanski) / Don't Look Back 

Altered States / Dont Look Back

RECURRING SHOTS: MIRRORS & SELF-REFLECTION

Don't Look Back

Don't Look Back

Le Petit Poucet

See The Sea (directed by Francois Ozon but written & starring Marina De Van)

Dark Touch

In My Skin

Alias

Alias

SPYING & VOYEURISM

Horror, Psychological thrillers & The New French Extremity are the common genres that are associated with Marina De Van but she also dips her toes in to the neo-noir genre. We often find the characters in De Van's films creeping on others (La Promenade) or spying in an effort to uncover the truth (Don't Look Back).

In My Skin

In My Skin

La Promenade

Don't Look Back

CRITICISM OF (SOME) MEN

This one is a little complicated...

While she isn't calling out all men on their bullshit, De Van certainly shines a spotlight on the very real (negative) characteristics that do exist in some men.

The men in the films of Marina De Van are often monsters (Le Petit Poucet), aggressive (Dark Touch), aloof (Don't Look Back), weak & pathetic (Psy-Show) or aggressive & self-centered (Marina De Van's boyfriend in In My Skin is so self-absorbed that he isn't supportive of his girlfriend who is clearly suffering from severe mental illness).

Dark Touch

In My Skin

In My Skin

Don't Look Back

Le Petit Poucet

Psy-Show

Criminal Lovers (a film about a male sexual abuser inspired by a poem written by Marina De Van)

THE PRESENCE OF CHILDREN

The idea of "the past" is an overlooked element in the cinematic universe of Marina De Van. It's easy to forget when you're dealing with body mutilation & extreme violence but flashbacks (Don't Look Back), repressed memories (Dark Touch) and the past (Le Petit Poucet) are key elements within her work and they are usually manifested through the children in her films...

Dark Touch

Don't Look Back

Le Petit Poucet